Atos UK&I & Kore.ai launch sovereign AI partnership

Kore.ai and Atos UK&I have partnered to deliver sovereign agentic AI for regulated organisations in the UK, targeting sectors including the public sector, financial services, healthcare and defence.

They will combine Kore.ai's Agent Platform Artemis with Atos' UK Sovereign Agentic Studio to build and deploy governed AI agents on UK-based infrastructure. The arrangement is aimed at organisations that need local governance, security controls and operational oversight as they move AI systems into production.

The partnership comes as businesses and public bodies face tighter scrutiny over how AI systems are built, managed and monitored. Demand has grown for sovereign AI models, in which data, infrastructure and governance remain within national or tightly controlled boundaries, particularly in sectors handling sensitive information.

Atos' studio will provide the production environment and governance frameworks for deployments, while Kore.ai will provide the software platform used to create and manage AI agents. The agents are intended to work in mixed teams of human staff and AI systems.

This delivery model is designed for organisations that have tested AI in pilot projects but have not yet rolled out systems more widely. The emphasis is on governed deployment rather than experimentation, with the partnership positioned around compliance and control in regulated settings.

Regulated focus

The move reflects a broader shift in the UK market as organisations seek AI tools that can meet both operational and regulatory requirements. Financial institutions, healthcare providers, defence bodies and public sector agencies have been among the most cautious adopters of generative and agentic AI because of concerns about data sovereignty, explainability and accountability.

Atos, which operates in 54 countries and reports annual revenue of about €7.2 billion, is using its UK arm to focus on those sectors through a domestic sovereign framework. Kore.ai, which says it works with more than 500 Global 2000 companies and partners, is seeking to expand use of its AI agent platform among large enterprises that want more structured deployments.

Mike Hill, Head of Technology at Atos UK&I, set out the rationale for the partnership.

"Our Sovereign Agentic Studio was built to turn AI ambition into operational reality safely and at scale. Kore.ai, as one of the leading providers of enterprise AI platforms and solutions, is the ideal partner to extend that capability. Together, we are creating a unique, sovereign-first AI proposition for UK enterprises that demand both innovation and control," Hill said.

Kore.ai framed the agreement as part of a transition from stand-alone tools to larger AI systems operating across businesses under formal governance structures. That reflects a growing industry view that the challenge is no longer just creating AI agents, but proving they can operate consistently and under supervision.

Governance pressure

The partnership also reflects rising governance demands. Businesses operating across Europe are preparing for the impact of the EU AI Act, which is expected to raise expectations around documentation, risk controls and accountability for certain AI uses.

Those requirements are likely to weigh particularly heavily on regulated organisations, where auditability and internal oversight often matter as much as the technical performance of the system itself. In practice, that has created a market opening for providers that can offer AI deployment models built around local hosting, policy controls and defined operational processes.

Raj Koneru, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Kore.ai, said: "The next phase of enterprise AI will not be defined by individual agents, but by governed systems of intelligence operating reliably at scale. By combining the Kore.ai Agent Platform's AI-native architecture, governance capabilities and multiagent orchestration with Atos' Sovereign Agentic Studio, we enable UK organizations to build, scale and optimize multiagent AI systems within sovereign boundaries while maintaining the trust, security and compliance required for regulated industries and mission-critical operations. This partnership helps enterprises move beyond AI pilots to production-grade AI with confidence."

The agreement also underlines the increasing role of service providers in shaping how AI is adopted inside large organisations. Rather than buying software alone, many enterprises are looking for combinations of platforms, infrastructure and advisory support to help satisfy internal risk teams and external regulators.

For Atos, the partnership adds an AI platform layer to its UK sovereign offering. For Kore.ai, it provides a route into customers that may prefer deployments through a local systems integrator with sector expertise and established relationships in sensitive parts of the economy.

The AI agents will be deployed from Atos' UK-based Sovereign Agentic Studio in support of organisations across public services, financial services, healthcare, defence and critical national infrastructure.